 In my clinical practice, bloating, anemia, and anxiety are actually a very, very common trifecta that I see. Another combination is digestive problems with anxiety or depression or insomnia. So why did these two things occur together with each other? Well, Chinese medicine has a very simple theory that actually explains why they are so common, which is really a clinical observation. What's up guys? Alex Hein, Chinese medicine doctor, acupuncturist, and author of the health book Master of the Day. So I've included two very important links below this video. The first is a free download for daily rituals that can help you add years to your life with traditional Chinese medicine. The second thing is if you'd like to become a patient of mine, there's info below this video on how to become a patient, where my clinic is, and more information on telemedicine as well. So let's talk about the real link between let's just say digestive problems and anemia. In Chinese medicine, there are a few common sayings throughout history. One of them is that the spleen generates the blood. The second is that let's just say generally the digestion is the root of your postnatal energy or life force. So Chinese medicine has this concept that you're born with a predestined or genetic constitution. Some kids are born very sickly. Some are born pretty immune to sickness and they have good health. These are just genetic predispositions based on our parental genetics. That is stored in Chinese medicine, we believe, in the kidneys. So that's one of the reasons why we say, you know, if you have like the burnt out CEO executive type, they're working 70 hours a week from the time they're 20 to the time they're 80, but by the time they're 39 or 40, they're half or mostly gray. Because in Chinese medicine, excessive use of your will depletes your kidneys. If your kidneys are depleted, one of the things that it manifests in is the way your hair is. So that's just in terms of general concepts. These are two very important sayings because the spleen generates the blood. So let's talk about the blood. There are two really important and clinical observations that most people practicing medicine make. The first is that anemic patients often have digestive problems or they have poor circulation, they're cold. They can have issues with their hair thinning. Female anemic patients have issues with their menses, usually getting lighter and lighter, fatigue, brain fog. They have general systemic physiological symptoms of digestive problems. The second observation is that modern formulas, like one of the modern formulas called Su Jun Zitang for gentlemen decoction is well studied. Thousands of studies on patients undergoing cancer care, chemotherapy, post chemotherapy, trying to regain their resources with this, you know, extreme chronic fatigue that can go on for years following cancer treatment. And it's well studied clinically to increase values related to your blood, so related to your red blood cells as well as values related to your platelets. So what is the link between specifically digestive problems now talking about anemia or anxiety? In Chinese medicine, you have these basic concepts, right? You have things that are considered more superficially depleted, like a chi level depletion. Let's just say for the sake of the argument that emotions are chi level relatively shallow. You have an argument with your spouse or your significant other and your blood pressure increases, you get angry, you lose your appetite, right? But then an hour later, you might be fine or you go for a walk or a workout and you feel good. Other pathologies are much deeper. Like, for example, a blood level pathology in Chinese medicine is often something that is a fairly deep level of depletion. Now, the blood in Chinese medicine is often related to the emotional states as well as hormonal states. And I would argue often the status of neurotransmitters, for example. So prolonged depletion of the blood, which can come through, for example, lifelong digestive problems. This kind of spleen-chee deficiency I've talked about here can then lead to a kind of picture where the blood is not being generated from healthy digestion. Those resources are not being regularly generated. It can come from extreme exhaustion from working 60, 70 hours for years and years and years. It can come if you are an elite athlete and you're really overdoing exercise. Anything that results in excessive depletion of your body's resources and not enough rest time. Those can all lead to this depletion of this deeper blood level. And it's one of the ways that certain conditions like anxiety and depression can end up manifesting later. But this specific link I'm talking about in this video is the link between people who usually have lifelong poor digestion. That's often been their weak point, usually since childhood. And these people may have even just have a failure to thrive type, body type. They've always been underweight. They've always been a little cold. They've always been kind of that anemic looking kid, pale face and things like that. So what is the treatment approach for this kind of pattern? Right? There are a lot of reasons that anemia can show up. But one of them in this case is this digestive pattern, this spleen-chee deficiency pattern leading to later a blood deficiency pattern that we call it. And even though this is very, very, very textbook and it's a lot more complicated in reality, there are many ways you can treat it, but the foundation for me is usually focusing on the person's digestion. So I have other videos on treating that kind of syndrome, that complex of symptoms. But the big thing is, if you are suffering from this pattern, really, really, really hone in on your digestion being a focal point of your healing process. If you experience this trifecta, your digestion is going to be the thing you should be the most disciplined about in addition to rest. In order to heal that kind of pattern over the next months or the next years. So I hope that gives some insight as to treating this pattern. It's clinically very, very common. I've lived it myself and it can take some time to heal and recover. But I figured by showing this kind of trifecta, it may give a little bit more insight as to why this is happening. So if you guys like, there's that free guide below this video. Four daily rituals that can add years to your life with traditional Chinese medicine. And in addition, if you'd like to become a patient of mine, down below this video, it has my local clinic info as well as information on becoming a telemedicine patient. So check it out below this video and before you go, I have two related videos on this topic.